Phil Smith

The brown-nosing, floppy-haired minion of Mannion, Phil is a kind of anti-Olly, doing the exact same thing as Mr Reeder, but for the other party, and not as good. He also exists in his own fantasy world which seems to be a strange fusion of Thatcher's Britain and Middle-Earth. This is why he hasn't had sex in many, many years.

Played by Will Smith

Despite the indignity of sharing his name with the man who gave us the word "Willennium", Will Smith has done a sterling job of ascending the rungs of British comedy since his first stand-up gigs in the 1990s. He's the only Thick Of It actor who had a hand in writing the scripts, for one thing. He also co-created the very underrated future-satire series Time Trumpet with Armando Iannucci, and was declared "the coolest guy in the world" by no less a god than Harry Enfield. Well, we presume Harry did mean this Will Smith. Not that American imposter.